Event to Celebrate Science Comes to Campus March 31

Inaugural Science for March will feature family-friendly interactive booths and lectures

Science for March, a daytime event on Beckman Mall on Saturday, March 31, will celebrate science with interactive booths and learning stations as well as an indoor speaker lineup.

Sponsored by the Caltech Postdoctoral Association; the Graduate Student Council; the Center for Teaching, Learning, & Outreach; and other campus affiliates, the inaugural event aims to make science more accessible to the local community, especially students in grades K–12. Participating groups, including Caltech, JPL, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Zoo, will host dozens of booths and lectures that teach about seismology, microscopes, space exploration, antibiotic resistance, and other science topics.

Tara Mastro, a postdoctoral scholar in biology and biological engineering and co-organizer of the event, says it is designed, in part, to "inspire the scientists and engineers of the future. … Caltech is well known as a place of innovation and discovery. I think the broader community is excited to be invited to campus to see that innovation and discovery up close, and meet the people driving it."

The event, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will feature keynote addresses by Caltech professor and project scientist for Mars 2020 Ken Farley and Sandy Marshall, founder of Project Scientist. It will also include TED-style talks delivered by Caltech students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty members.

Dan Johnson, a representative from the Graduate Student Council assisting in event planning, says the event's goal of communicating science to the general public "is more important than ever in this era where facts are too often conflated with fiction."

Plus, he adds, "sharing our research with others serves as a great reminder to us of just how cool our work is."